Maxy and Daxy (Maximum RideShapeshifter)
by TheSpiritDancer
Summary: When Dax is called by Owen, he doesn't expect to fly straight into another hunt, but they aren't hunting foxes. They're hunting mutants, and Dax is caught in the thick of it. {T for Tacos!}
1. Chapter 1

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Dax Jones was out in the woods on a foxtrot. His russet fur ruffled in the breeze, and his raven paws padded softly through the dewy undergrowth. He felt alive, and for the first time in months, well.

Catherine was dead, Owen was alive, his father was seeing him more then ever… For once in his life, Dax considered the fact that everything might be going _right._

His spray of black whiskers brushed against the undergrowth as he made his way down the curve of the valley.

Dax was in Spain, on his way to Owen Hunt.

His heart pounded. He had missed the older man so much, and now he was just a few hours away. He couldn't contain himself and leapt fluidly into the air.

His wings unfurled and he rocketed across the sky like a bullet. He felt free, happy, _wild…_

He loop-the-looped and gave a raucous cry of joy, his speckled feathers sillhouetted against the full moon. His vision blurred pink as he dropped, and he was vaguely aware of Lisa's presence in his mind, caught up in the experience.

He was giddy with happiness. He felt his heart swell and he just let go, free falling to the earth. He pulled up at the last second over a dark lake, gleaming like a mirror, perfectly still in the calm air. He skimmed the surface with his wing tips, and let out another, louder cry.

He darted in and out of the Cyprus trees like an obstacle course, whooping with joy as he lifted into the sky, elated.

That was when he smelled the dogs.

It was eerie, a smell of musk and sweat and aggression, like… Just like…

The fox hunt. All those years ago. Th clamour of the burrow, the thwack of the spade, the baying hounds which he still heard ringing in his ears… A memory..,

Dax jolted as the sound got louder and the smell hit him like a wall. It wasn't a memory. He changed back to a person in one _flick_

He could also smell feathers, and he frowned, confused at the harsh scents that assaulted his nose. They jumbled, hard to make out, and he snapped into fox form, with a low growl.

He could determine the sounds now, filter the smells. The birds smelt strange, like people too, but he ignored it. The pack was chasing them, and there had to be something he could do about it.

He remembered how he had had Owen and Lisa. These animals had no-one.

He took to the skies, and his sharpened vision picked out the mass almost instantly. It was a mess of bodies and torn fur, and he dived down.

A year ago he would have never even attempted this, but now, after nearly dying so many times, he had a certain ruthlessness to him as he clawed at the eyes of the creatures.

He could smell their bloodlust and he had to dodge their hard attacks to avoid a snapped neck. He barely registered their strange humanoid features, and he took off as soon as he could. One of them had caught his wing, and now that most of them had been taken out he soared into the sky, his head fogged with pain. He tried to extend the appendage, to glide, but it didn't work, he felt himself spiral out of control to the ground below.

He felt something feathered slam into him as he shifted back to Dax, ready to die, and all went black.


	2. Chapter 2

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It was a complete shock when the falcon thing dived into the mass of erasers.

My first thought was _mutant._

Like, what kind of indigenous Spanish wildlife went into frenzies and clawed the eyes out of a group of bloodthirsty wolf mutants? Do _you_ know? Didn't think so.

I was even more surprised when I flew into the boy at a hundred miles an hour.

Right, to summarise, let's have a 'strangeness of my day' checklist.

Get attacked by mutant wolves. Check.

Meet a ninja peregrine that has something against mutant wolves. Check.

See a flying boy appear from where there quite _clearly_ wasn't a flying boy before. Check.

Crash into said flying boy. Check.

Anyway, back to plummeting to the ground.

I snapped my wings outwards as we spiralled downwards. The boy, younger than me, was unconscious, and I struggled upwards, furiously beating my wings.

**{A/N this is set just after 'Schools out forever' and 'Stirring the Storm'}** Fang flew towards us, top speed. I tried to angle my trajectory so we would hit the lake, but we were still impossibly high up, and it was going to hurt like hell, if not kill my passenger. He didn't have bird metabolism.

"Drop him!" Yelled Fang, and the boy seemed to snap awake. He looked shocked for a second.

"I'm not dropping him!" I shouted back to Fang, but the boy interrupted me.

"Drop me!" He called. He had a slight English accent.

I shook my head, and kept trying furiously to pull us up, my wings beating double speed. The boy struggled but I held his arms tighter. _Was he trying to make me drop him?_

Suddenly a voice cut through my mind, but it wasn't Angel. _Drop him you idiot!_ In my shock I did, and I cursed, but the boy was already gone.

I scanned, but I couldn't see him. Then I caught a flash of something. It was a bundle of feathers, speckled brown and steel gray, plummeting towards the lake at a ridiculous speed. _Could it be….?_

I blinked. The bird never hit the water. Instead, something sleek and dark brown cut into the water like a knife, it's streamlined position slicing the surface of the lake, and disappearing.

After all the commotion, the valley fell completely silent.

I flew low, scanning for any sign of the weird English boy. No head bobbed above the surface, and I settled at the bank of the river.

"Damn kid." I heard Fang mutter as he settled next to me. I gave him a weird look.

"Was it just me, or did he appear out of thin air?" I asked, and Fang shrugged cryptically. Angel flew down, shaking my shoulder.

"Look! An otter!" She told me, pointing excitedly to a small, lithe brown shape that had pulled itself out of the lake. I watched in fascination as the otter shook the water out of its fur and… Dissapeared?

The boy stood in its place, slightly damp, and I let out a quiet gasp. He spun around, and his dark, mysterious eyes met mine. His eyes widened like 'oh (insert swear word of your choice)'

I pointed at him silently, and my flock stood behind me. We wanted answers.

The boy looked around, and disappeared again.

A small russet-red shape darted into the woods and I pelted after it, full speed.

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Dax ran though the woods as fast as he could. His injured wing had transferred to his right leg, and he was limping in foxy form. He scanned desperately for a badger sett or a hidey-hole to stow away in, as he could hear the strange bird-kids approaching. The scary blonde one would want answers.

_Thanks Lisa, she wouldn't have dropped me if you hadn't shocked her like that._ He sent to another just as scary blonde as he pelted at top speed, the bracken undergrowth tearing at his flanks.

_You okay?_ She sent, sounding worried.

Dax huffed telepathically. Ever since the incident in London with Nastya, **{A/N 'Unleashed book one: A life or Death job (Series two of the Shapeshifter series)}** his telepathy with Lisa had grown stronger.

_I've fallen into lakes before, and the last one was colder._ He told her, but he cut the connection. Behind him, the voices of the strange kids came scarily close. He ducked between the roots of a tree, the dark earth enclosing him.

A young voice, not Lisa spoke up in his head.

_Its okay, we won't hurt you.._ **{Angel, in case you didn't guess.} **The voice trailed off as he shielded his mind like Lisa had taught him, but the effort had distracted him, and he felt a set of hands grab him from behind and drag him out, dirt raining on him as the earth cavern collapsed.

He barked, twisting round to bite the figure, but he saw the girl who had caught him, and stopped. He hadn't really got to see her all that well when he was falling, and now he noticed a huge pair of speckled wings extending from her back, at least 10 feet across. It wasn't Cola club strange but still, it caught him off guard.

He felt more hands grab him from behind, and something clubbed him around the head as the world dissolved into darkness.

**{Poor Dax keeps getting knocked out! Oh well.. The flock won't hurt him :)}**


End file.
